Franklin vs
Franklin vs. Silva at UFC 99 - The Go Forward Model for the Best Fights
UFC 99 featured a great fight between Rich Franklin and Wanderlei Silva. Silva has fought for his career at 205 pounds, and Franklin has fought most of his career at 185 pounds. Both were past champions and they were planning to change weight classes; albeit in opposite directions, Franklin up and Silva down. The two combatants agreed to meet at 195 pounds, and the fans were rewarded with an outstanding MMA fight that resulted in a Franklin victory.
All MMA organization should emulate the formula for this match up. The idea of weight classes did not exist in the early UFC days, which sometimes resulted in gross mis-matches, and other times provided great surprises, such as Royce Gracie domination against all sizes of opponents while Gracie was lucky to weigh 180 pounds with his BJJ gi on.
The evolution of MMA including the training and fighting styles have leveled the playing field, no longer is BJJ such a mysterious art that an undersized competitor can dominate all comers. The parity amongst competitors makes jumping multiple weight classes a difficult proposition because if you have evenly skilled fighters, the larger opponent will likely dominate. The 'catch weight' strategy used in the Franklin vs. Silva match bridged the weight class difference between two similar sized fighters and pitted two of the UFC's best performers in an epic battle.
Let’s take a moment to imagine some great matches that could occur at catch weights:
Anderson Silva vs. George St. Pierre at 180 pounds
BJ Penn vs. Mike Brown at 150 pounds
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Chuck Liddell
Silva vs. GSP at 180 pounds. The title for best pound for pound fighter would decided in one match. 180 pounds might be tough for Silva, but he never looks gassed due to weight cutting at 185 pounds. GSP is huge at 170 pounds. This fight is pure talent vs. pure talent. GSP might struggle with Silva's long reach, and Silva could struggle with GSP's wrestling prowess. The winner could rightfully claim the pound for pound title, but Fedor may disagree with that crowning.
BJ Penn vs. Mike Brown at 150 pounds. Awesome match - Speed and BJJ from Penn vs. Power and wrestling from Mike Brown. Did not blink if this fight was made because the action would be awesome and fast paced.
Fedor vs. Chuck Liddell at 215 pounds. I had read in the past that Chuck wanted this fight, and perhaps Chuck is too old for this fight. I don't know, but I do know that the only ground game is this fight is when one of the combatants hits the mat after taking one on the chin.
Other Match Up Considerations:
Miguel Torres vs. Urijah Faber at 140 pounds
Mike Brown vs. Clay Guida at 150 pounds
Josh Barnett vs. Brock Lesnar at any weight
Lyoto Machida vs. Anderson Silva at 195 pounds
Cain Velasquez vs. Forrest Griffin at 215 pounds
Just bring it, the fans are the winners with the catch weight matches!
Carl Estes
Owner of www.mmasizzle.com, please come and visit for tickets, news, video, articles, gear, links, and more.
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